The Story of the Glittering Plain tells the story of Hallblithe, a young man searching for his kidnapped fiancee. His quest takes him first to the Island of Ransom and then to the Glittering Plain, a utopian land of everlasting youth. Hallblithe has to move through a web of lies and deceptions in order to find his fiancee and return home. Written immediately after (or in parallel with) News From Nowhere, this novel presents a different world from the previous historic fantasies of The House of the Wolfings and The Roots of the Mountains. Here Morris invents, for the first time in modern literature, an entirely new world with supernatural elements, opening the road for modern fantasy. The novel, rich in symbolism and meaning beyond its story, is written in the unique language and style of William Morris. Morris mixes classical mythical archetypes (as the descent to Hades) with his personal experience of Iceland and a critique of utopian ideas to create a unique story that remains a milestone of modern fantasy.